Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now
by Insert a Catchy Penname Here
Summary: You know their lives of the run. You know where they orgined. But what happened the only time when they were all united? They were little kids on a ship, far away from a home they don't know one day they will have to revive.
1. Together for the First Time

Together Forever and Ever, But Only For Now 1

Author Note: So, I was reading some fics on here, and I couldn't help but notice how there aren't really any stories about the sole journey all the Garde and Cepans took together from Lorien on the ship. It's mentioned some scenes in the books and all, but still….I thought I'd do my own version!

So, um….enjoy! :D

**XXXXXXXXXX**

If there was one thing the little menace didn't like, it was being told what to do. So, needless to say, he was not exactly amused when he was stuck on a ship with a bunch of other kids and adults who were supposed to be in complete control of him.

"Hey, people!" he shouted at the top of his lungs to be heard over to commotion from everybody now on the ship, "where are we going?!"

"Nine…" Sandor sighed, putting one hand over the little boy's mouth and pulling him off toward the corner of the ship furthest from the rest of Loric, "calm down, buddy."

"What if I don't want to?" Nine retorted, squirming against his Cepan's hold on his arm, "and why are you calling me 'Nine'? That's not my name, Sandor!"

"It is now," the young man replied firmly, placing his hand back over his charge's mouth, "got it?"

"But _why_?" the five year old whined, batting away his Cepan's hand with a huge pout on his face.

"Don't worry about _why _right now," the young man's face was grave as he scooped up his charge, sitting on the floor and surveying what was going on with the others.

It was a tragic sight to see, even for the once highly rebellious young man.

As it was, everybody was a mess. Number One was staring at her feet, trembling. She was the oldest of the others, about nine years old. As he watched her, Sandor could only think of how she would always remember the destruction that they were now blasting away from that night. How she'd remember her family in full detail, and the beauty of the dying Lorien.

_Good luck, little one, _he thought with a frown, looking to the next little girl, Number Two.

She was six years old, crying with her knees to her chest. Her Cepan was sitting beside her, one weathered hand on her back for as much comfort as he could manage with tears rolling down his face as well. Number Three , who was three, was sitting in the opposite corner of the ship, beside another girl- Number Seven, who was seven. Both of them were crying, fear evident across their faces, but their hands were clasped together tightly.

Number Six was about five, sitting near a box of toys with her Cepan, who was pacing anxiously. The young girl simply watched, her eyes confused but her face afraid. Across from her, Number Four, who looked about as old as his number, was asking his Cepan what was going on. For a reply, his Cepan just looked away and shook his head.

Needless to say, it broke the younger man's heart to hear his answer to Four's question of where his grandparents were.

"Far away, Quinnth," his Cepan, who Sandor knew as Brandon, replied with his voice distanced and grieving.

A blonde girl who looked about five- Number Five- was sitting in her Cepan's lap in a chair at a big white table. Finally, Number Eight, who looked like he was seven like Number Seven, was staring at the door. His big green eyes were full of shock, like he could hardly believe what he just saw.

"Eight," his Cepan's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was heard in the deathly silent room, "are you alright, son?"

His lower lip trembled. Before anyone could move, he burst into tears, which only upset Seven and Three even more. From where he was still squirming against his grip, Nine looked up in alarm. His eyes quickly found Eight, which inspired the younger boy to waltz over there confidently and fearlessly.

"Hey!" he asked in the same loud, obnoxious voice he'd used only a few minutes ago, "what're you cryin' about?"

"I….my brothers…" Eight sniffled, wiping his eyes furiously as his Cepan put his hands on his charge's shoulders, "I just….they just….turned into dust!"

"Dust?" Nine repeated as the older youth whimpered and his Cepan held him closer and tighter, "how they do that?!"

"Nine!" Sandor scolded, scooping up the little boy and trying to carry him off, "leave him alone!"

"I don't know!" Eight just cried his eyes out, dropping to his knees and sobbing into his hands. Slowly, Seven crawled over, still clutching Three's hand as she took one of his tear-soaked palms in her gentle, trembling grasp.

Their tears seemed to inspire Four, who's lip was trembling the entire time as it was. Covering his eyes, he quietly began to sob himself, shrinking away from Seven's teary eyed gaze. His Cepan began pulling him into his lap for some level of comfort, but the young blonde just squirmed free, stalking into the corner and pressing is forehead to the cold titanium. Six got to her feet at that point, taking his hips in her grasp and yanking him against her suddenly.

Both of their Cepans could only watch, slightly amused as the four year old started kicking. She just glared, holding him tighter against herself.

"Stop fighting me!" she ordered strictly.

Eyes widening with fear, he immediately stopped his struggles. With a small smirk, she sat down carelessly, holding him as if he was her younger brother. Four just sniffled, crying into her chest helplessly as she rubbed his back. He didn't know it, but all she could think of was her actual young brother, the one she had to run away from with Katarina.

The sweetness she still showed through her rougher nature kind of broke Sandor's heart.

Five just looked away, crossing her arms with a sour look on her face. She was evidently quite jealous of all the attention, like she was used to getting more than that. Once again, his little menace of an assignment had to jump at the chance at getting under someone's skin.

"What's your sitch?" he asked, plopping in a chair beside the two; both of them instantly recoiled.

"Stop being a jerkface!" One suddenly demanded, grabbing the younger boy's ear, "and leave everybody alone!"

"Who you think you talking too?" Nine snapped in reply, putting up his tiny fists.

"Erican!" Sandor finally said firmly, reaching out to grab him _again_.

"Bellintine!" One's Cepan scolded just as strictly, grabbing the young girl's shoulder, "leave him alone!"

"She started it!" the five-year-old boy complained as he was pulled away, toward a corner.

_What have you Elders gotten me into_? Sandor could only wonder helplessly as he faced the unruly little boy to the corner.

_**Author Note: **_And there is the first chapter! This story will follow all of their journey, through all of their perspectives. How'd you like the first chapter?

P.S. The Last Days of Lorien on Tuesday! EEEEEEEEP! :D


	2. Not Fair

Together Forever and Ever, But Only For Now 2

**_Author Note:_ **I read "The Last Days of Lorien"...:D :D :D :D :D :D :D. It was EPIC, it was, like, PERFECT! SO MANY FEEEEEEELLLLSSSSS. Any due revisions I came to in the book shall be installed into this story! ^_^

P.S. I HIGHLY suggest reading it, then maybe reading more of THIS story. :)

* * *

All she knew was that everything had changed in a very short amount of time.

It had begun as a normal day, at least. She'd be playing dress up with her best friends, Koral and Mei, when the ground shook beneath them. Her grandmother, a widow of three years, ran up, looking frantic. The Garde were running around, all of them using all of the Legacies she'd learned of and more. The Cepans were falling, terrified screams echoing in the air.

_The screams of the fallen._

Now Number One just stood quietly in the corner her Cepan had faced her into, for fighting with one of the 'pipsqueaks.' The screams echoing omniously in his head, replaying like a broken record along with the scenes of blood, terror, and bitter defeat.

_That's my planet, _she thought, tears beginning to sting her eyes as the younger children's tears began dwindling to heartbroken sniffles, _my people. Grandmama told me I was going to save them...but...I was too late. _

At the point, One began wondering what was the point of fighting when it was already too late.

* * *

"What on Lorien is this?"

That was all she could ask as she wrinkled her nose at the packet in front of her. It looked processed, which she hadn't seen the likes of, not since Lorien went all-natural like it did. Her Cepan just sat beside her, pouring a glass of water into said packet. It slowly turned into something warm and hot, which she poured in a glass bowl. One just stared at it, stars in her eyes for curiousity and tightness in her jaw from her stubborn streak.

"It looks nasty," she decides.

"It's diner," Seven's Cepan, Adel, coaxed gently to all of them who sat around the table, "it'll taste just like meatloaf."

"But meatloaf is nasty!" One whined.

"Come on, Bellintine," her Cepan, Hessu, urged quietly from where she was sitting wearily. Ever since the first Garde destined to die had recovered from her sickness just the past day, Hessu had been tired, worried sick for what she referred to as a 'suicide mission' and just when it would be too last for both of them, especially the nine year old.

The Garde were know mainly referred to as their numbers in the order Lordais set them into, but for this occasion, Hessu was just tired, and little One could see that. Feeling a bit guilty, she picked up her spoon, poking at the slop before her.

_Meatloaf? _she mourned mentally, _more like_ _meat**gross!**_

"This stuff is squishy!" Nine announced obviously from the opposite end of the table, plunging his tiny hands into the stuff and feeling around; he squealed at the texture.

"Stop it!" One whined herself, wishing for the younger boy to shush it up.

It just wasn't fair in the young girl's eyes. From what she'd overheard through the air ducts of the 'sick room', she was supposed to be the first to die, along with Hessu. Everybody else apparently wouldn't; it bite enough. But she didn't like the tiny rooms of the ship, or all the other kids that much. They were all so energized and stuff; she just wasn't into all that. She was more interested in doing 'grown up' stuff, like dressing up and waiting for her Legacies.

But now it seemed like it was all ruined, just like because of the Mog meanies.

* * *

"Please stop crying..." Five was trying. She really, really was, and One could really, really tell it.

But it really, _really _wasn't working.

It seemed like every night since they'd first boarding the ship, (at that was a little less than a month ago,) Two had woken up crying. During the day, she was pretty lively, running around with Three and Five and willingly doing the pre-combat exercies, like simple calethestics and warm-ups before One on Ones, which was when it was just the Cepan and the Garde. (One kind of liked group time better, since Hessu was so stressful and strict and stuff.) Either way, when it was just all the young Garde together, Two was a totally crybaby.

"I want Grandmama!" she was crying softly now, being careful not to wake her own Cepan, Jacques. who was pretty loving and forgiving, but was someone she never wanted to be a bother to.

"Well...maybe you can see her one day..." Five attempted, but that only upset the slightly older girl even more.

"Okay, kids," One finally got tired of all the failed attempts at comfort and stood up, marching to the middle of the 'room' that all the girls were sharing, "let's all shut the heck up and get some sleep. I need my beauty rest, you know!"

"If that's what you call it, you need a lotta it..." Six snickered from her bed, inspiring the older girl to jump on the bed, eyes ablaze.

"What did you just say?!" she demanded lowly, her tone angry.

"Please stop!" Seven finally cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks rapidly as she curled up weakly, trying to contain the volumes to what her cries reached, "please...I don't want you guys to fight...'

"Niether do I!" One protested, getting to her feet and stomping back to her bed, "forget all of you!"

"B-but..." both Two and Seven were sputtering.

"Just shut up!" Six finally yelled, shoving her pillow of her head. For once, One actually agreed with the tomboyish younger girl.

* * *

"You're doing great!"

Brandon was encouraging and all, but One had to roll her eyes. She didn't like all of this pre-combat training stuff; she felt like it was pointless when all of her fighting wouldn't do her any good. At least, that's how Hessu made it sound, so the young girl obviously believed in that theory. She'd used the word 'suicide' before, but whatever it meant, the young girl was positive it wasn't good. None the less, she was stuck in the bleak room for all of these exercises, even if wasn't terribly long. Right now they were all supposed to be doing twenty push-ups, and while she hated doing that, she thought the others' efforts were funny.

The little Two girl was struggling, her budding tears of frustration mixing in with her sweat. Her arms with all thin and scrawny; she wasn't built for working out. The really young boy, Three, was sweating practical bugets, but at least he was getting the job done. He was a chubby, tan little boy; he wasn't built for much work, either.

The really shy little boy, Four, was doing pretty good. He was still slow, his movements slow and precise, despite Brandon's constantly reassurances that he was doing it all correctly. Five had already finished, like herself, and was practically enjoying the 'show' with Six. Quietly, the oldest Garde left alive motioned them over to sit by her. Much to her surprise, they complied.

The bashful, more gentle set girl, Seven, was struggling. She was crying openly, looking very insecure and scared. The terrified, yet curious, little boy, Eight, was just finishing up his push-ups. He was more built for battle, and for training. The last one, Number Nine, was doing more than what they were assigned. His Cepan, Sandor, was just smiling at him, chuckling.

_He's nothin but trouble_, One judged him silently, _and he'll be the luckiest. SO not fair..._


	3. Tough through Tears

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 3

_Unlucky Number One. _

Two wasn't quite sure what to make of that. She'd heard her Cepan, Jacques, say it on one of those first nights, before everybody started to get more eager to move and live on the ship for a while. All of the Cepans stopped talking when she walked in, tears budded in her wide brown eyes. They all looked kind of guilty, but really sad too. That only upset Two even more; they all could tell.

"Hey, kiddo," Jacques tried weakly, "what's wrong?"

"I h-had a nightmare," she sniffled weakly, reaching up to wipe her own tears, "b-but…I-I'm sorry t-to bother you."

She turned quickly on her heels, having full intentions of going back to her room to cry herself out. Before she could, however, Jacques had scooped her off her feet and sat her carefully in his lap. As she sniffled, trying desperately to dry it up, he took her long mousy red hair and began to braid it. The little six-year-old girl didn't know it at the time, but her Cepan was comforting her in that same manor he'd done only days before to his own little girl.

"What was it about, Two?" Mr. Sandor piped up from where he was bent over, his elbows balancing on his knees.

Jacques glared at the younger man behind Two's back. She noticed out of the corner of her eye; she whimpered. Both men immediately felt guilty for the hard stares directed at each other, averting their gazes. Of course it wasn't _really _their faults that they weren't getting along very good, and no more was it that Two was so upset. None the less, all of the Cepans on that ship- even Sandor- had a strong sense of protection over all of the young Garde still alive.

One day, their concerns would be much more desperate and big. But for now, for this night, they needed to calm down the fearful Number Two.

"It was….all of my family," she sniffled, "they all….catched on fire!"

All of the older Loric's faces grew grime. The little girl didn't understand it completely then, but to be honest, that _had _happened to some of those who died on Lorien. Jacques had watched the very same thing that happened in his Garde's nightmare in reality just a few nights before to his wife and young daughter.

Of course he couldn't tell her that.

Instead, he just finished braiding back her hair. From across the room, Ms. Hessu cast them a sad, sympathetic gaze. Both Cepans knew that if and when Number One would die, Number Two's immortality would expire. She would be the next one to be killed.

But, of course, Two didn't know that yet.

* * *

"You know….you cry a lot."

She flinched back immediately from One's harsh, truthful words. Ever since she was an infant, she'd always be sensitive and was born with a fearful nature to her. If she could prevent it, she would. But since she couldn't, she just tended to cry over "spilled milk".

The thing that inspired One's snarky comment was, in fact, something similar: Knocking over a glass of water, and watching as it smashed into a billion pieces on the tile.

"Oh no…." the little redhead's lower lip trembled, "I….I'm sorry!"

After One had made her comment and Hessu started scolding her charge, the younger girl ducked her head. Jacques just sighed, fetching a pan and broom. While he was gone, Seven's Cepan, Miss Adel, put her hand on the little girl's trembling back.

"Hey, it's okay," she urged, "accidents happen."

"I didn' mean it…" the little girl sniffed.

"We know," Mr. Sandor assured as best he could when he was trying to keep Nine from throwing food….again, "don't worry about it, kiddo."

"Hey! You never call ME kiddo!" Nine protested lively, dropping the rubbery bacon in mid grab and crossing his arms in a pout.

"Sorry, buddy," the youngest Cepan sighed.

Two looked up Miss Adel, who was dapping up the water with Jacques. Quickly, the redhead moved to help. Sadly, though, her feet slipped out from underneath her in her hurry. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, the back of her head throbbing lightly from where it had met the edge of her chair.

"Two!" Jacques yelped, scrambling over and scooping her into his grasp, "are you okay?"

She nodded quietly. For once, she wasn't crying. Now, she was determined to be tough.

* * *

The whole 'tough' thing didn't really work out a lot for her, she discovered quickly.

After pre-combat training and One and Ones, all of the little Garde were together in the 'main' room. Six had recently decided the two baskets of toys managed onto the ship were interested, meaning that the entire place was scattered with them. Quietly, Two was sitting close to the wall, stroking the string hair of her dolly and watching what the others did.

One was brushing her hair with some pink plastic brush, saying that playing with toys was a 'baby thing'. Three, on the other hand, was having a good time running his plastic toy truck together with Five. Both of the younger-than-hers were squealing at the fun of it, giggling. Six was on her stomach, zipping around a little car and eyeing Four's monster truck car. Just by the look in hers, Two got the feeling she was going try swiping it.

Seven was in the corner, hiding her face. She looked about as nervous as Two felt; it was sad. Kind of like her, Eight was in the corner, but his eyes were dry. Like herself, he was just watching shyly, sadly. Lastly, Nine had found a foam mini sword, and was having a great time smacking Sandor with it.

Two wanted to ask one of them to play with her, but none of the girls seemed to really like her.

"Hey," she jumped when a pair of bright green eye's flashed in front of her suddenly.

"O-oh….hi…." she sputtered weakly, standing up in alarm and ending up accidently connecting heads with the slightly older Number Eight.

"Do…do you wanna play?" he offered, his cheeks getting kind of pinkish-red, "I mean….you looked scared."

"Um….can we play dollies?" she offered, certain he would say 'no', like all of the boys in her neighborhood would.

Instead, though, he just got a little pinker in the face and nodded. Taking her smaller hand, he guided her to the toy bins, picking up one of the plastic man dolls. She just smiled, squeezing her stuffed dolly from her home tightly to her chest.

"Can we ask her to play, too?" Eight asked, pointing to Seven.

"Sure…." Two smiled at the thought of having another new friend as she squeezed his hand, "you my newest bestest friend, okay?"

"Okay," he smiled back innocently.

And both of them truly meant it.

* * *

"Oh, Layla! You look real pretty today!" Two giggled as Eight happily made his doll talk to hers.

"Thank you!" she chirped, "hey, Callow! Are you ready yet?"

"Yes…." Seven murmured shyly, making her own doll talk along with the two of the others.

Two giggled happily while Eight smiled and Seven blushed nervously. All three had been playing with their dolls for the past hour or so, which was entertaining the trio. To the side, their Cepans had started to watch, all of them smiling sadly. When Adel started to cry quietly, it was all Two could do to calm down Seven again, even with Eight's help.

Now they were playing again.

"I love you guys," Two told her new friends affectionately, smiling sweetly.

Both of them grinned in return as Eight wrapped his already-strong thin arms around her. As she cuddled close, the little six year old could only think back to the whole 'unlucky number one' thing. She knew she was supposed to be Number Two- whatever that meant- and that she would die one day.

_But at least I get a second chance. _


	4. Toy Trucks

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 4

"Voom voom!" Five sang out happily, pushing back and forth her toy truck rapidly to build up the friction underneath wheels. She didn't know it's power, she just knew it went faster when she let it go.

"Voom!" Three echoed behind her, his legs splayed widely.

He was young, the same age of his number. He had no modesty developed at that time, therefore didn't mind having his legs spread to the two-year-old girl. Both of them were simply children in their fantasies of childsplay. Now they were playing with their toys together, while the others did their own games. Since they started to play with the trucks together, they'd bonded quickly. Unlike meanie Number One, Five was nice to little number Three. It was even better, since he was the youngest on the ship.

Five was super, super, _super _nice.

"Voom?" he questioned as she suddenly stopped speeidng up the wheels of her car.

That's when he felt the ship shaking.

Instantly, the little boy was terribly frightened. Kind of like Number Two, he was nervous and easily spooked, so things like the one thing keeping them from the endless depts of outer space vibrating sent shivers up his tiny spine. Of course he couldn't describe the fear; he was but a toddler. None the less, he felt it, and it was very real. Eyes widening three times their size, he scrambled to stand, just as the floor vibrated again. Rapidly, he bolted behind his Cepan, Hunmek. Behind the older man, he felt safer, like any young child would.

Hunmek just happened to be one those who had knowledge of how to handle fear.

"You'll be alright, little one," he crooned, reaching down in order to scoop the child into his grasp, "don't you worry. It's just a small shower of metorites, no need to be alarmed."

"O-Okie dokie..." the toddler merely hiccuped, the beginning buds of tears in his big brown eyes.

Five watched her friend be cradled from the ground. Her own Cepan, Jemstone, was pacing, peering out of the window. Since Five had told him that her Cepan had her daughter on another ship, Three knew that she was scared for her said daughter. He just wanted Five to be okie-dokie, too. After all, he did like her a lot, even though she was supposed to have cooties. Though he was trembling in Hunmek's arms, he reached for his buddy.

"You okie, Five?" he inquired softly after a teary hiccup.

When she looked up, both Garde and Cepan were greeted with the pouty lip. Bending over carefully, the older scooped up the other little Garde, since her own Cepan was obviously too occupied. Three cooed with his friend was scooped up, touching her arm. That's when the ship jerked sharply, briefly. Whimpering loudly, the little boy hide his face in the fabric of his Cepan's tunic, gripping Five's all that tighter.

Both of them just had to smile sadly.

* * *

It was half past ten o' clock, and for the curious little toddler, the adventure was only beginning. Then again, his energy partially was contributed from his late nap at almost five in the afternoon. It had lasted about two hours, too, so now the very young child was wide awake. Everything was possible for him...even if most of everyone else was alsleep now. While the other Garde and boys fell asleep, he had noticed how Sandor and Nine played together in the main room until one or both them passed out from sheer exhaustion. Sometimes, Four's Cepan, Brandon, would be there, either watching or scolding them. (More the later than the first, honestly.) None the less, on this night, he was simply watching the young Cepan and Garde. Three took that as meaning he could join in.

"Three?" Brandon noticed him first, "what are you still doing up?"

Nine whirled around, eyes lighting up. In his young eyes, he'd just found himself a playmate. Even if he was a little younger, Three could tell he wanted somebody to play with. After all, everybody else already had their best friends while Nine hung out with Sandor.

"Not sleepy no more," Three replied innocently as the slightly older Garde rushed over.

In the same three seconds, he found himself pinned the floor. Nine's bright eyes were lite up, shining with playfulness to match the large grin plastered on his face. Upon the tackle, Sandor and Brandon started over, but Three just giggled shyly. He wasn't used to this kind of play, but he kind of liked it.

"Conquered," Nine declared, straddling his waist.

_Conquered. _The youngest didn't know what that really big word, but he still didn't like it.

"Nu-uh!" he protested, starting to squirm and kick.

"Uh-huh!"

"Nu-UH!"

"Uh-HUH!"

"Nine!" Sandor and Brandon chorused in unison, both grabbing for the entergetic child.

"Hey, that's not fair! I no do nothing bad!" the dark haired small menence protested, squirming away from both of their grips on his arms.

"It's not very nice to tackle people like that, you know," Sandor pointed out, hefting his Garde over his shoulder with little effort. From where he was still on the ground, Three admired his strength.

_I wanna be like him_.

"But I do it to _you_! And I did it to Grandpa!" the younger protested louder.

"Shhh!" the once rebellious youth scolded, covering his charge's mouth with one hand, "come on, buddy. I think it's time for us to get some sleep."

"That's new for you to say," Brandon smirked from where he was crouching on the ground, slipping his hands underneath the youngest Garde, "alright. Up you go, buddy."

"HEY!" Nine squealed his protests, "that MY nickname!"

"Sowwy, Nine..." Three aplgoized smally from the ground, moving to hide behind Brandon's legs, "I no mean to steal..."

As the youngest Cepan carried Nine off for the children's quarters, Brandon turned carefully to face the small child. Immediately, (more for shyness than anything else,) he ducked behind his own legs, trying to avoid his old, wiser eyes. Even the slightly more stiff Cepan had to smile at that. Despite everything that had happened to his people and his family, having nine entergetic little kids around helped out keeping spirits high.

"Come on, Three," he coaxed.

"I...I no wanna come out," the three-year-old whimpered, "you make me go night night. Me no wanna go night night."

"It's getting late, buddy," Four's Cepan just pointed out, reaching behind him consciously and finding the back of the youth's shirt.

"Nooooo!" he wailed in lively protest, kicking and flailing his little legs and arms, "it no fair! Sandor and Nine stay up late! Me wanna stay up late, too!"

Brandon just sighed. He wasn't ever the best with little children, even his own Garde, Four. He had hopes that, by spending what was supposed to be at least a year's travel on this ship with all the kids, he'd learn some skills. Now it was almost a month that had passed, and he hadn't sucessed. Even back on Lorien, his wife was better had taking care of his two daughters.

But now he just needed to get this child to bed.

"But it's not good for them," he tried reason, taking the toddler's arms.

Three howled. In his young eyes, Brandon was just being a big bully. His big brother, Timi, was like that sometimes. Once, he even swatted him on the bottom for playing near his room. The very young boy didn't like that at all. He also didn't like bullies, and as said before, he thought that's all Brandon was being. So, he started to kick harder and howl again.

"What's going on here?"

Suddenly, Hunmek was there. He looked bleary-eyed and worried; Three squealed in alarm. Trying to smirk at the practical baby's expense, the Cepan got a firmer grip on his arm, pulling him in front of his Cepan. With another squeal of protest, Three took off for the children's headquarters. He was still fumbling for the handle of the holographed door when he was caught up to.

"Hey...hey, calm down, buddy," Hunmek reached down, plucking up his charge gently, "it's alright."

"Buddy is Nine's name!" he wailed, tears dripping out of his wide eyes.

Chuckling just a little, the man shifted his hold on his Garde. Now Three was bent slightly over his shoulder, supported by it's wieght. One of his hands supported the youth, resting gently on the upper parts of his legs, just under his bottom. Using his free hand, he opened the door quietly. stepping quietly to avoid waking the other three little boys. Sandor just appeared to be leaving, looking exhasted. From his top bunk, Nine stirred already in his dreams. Keeping his footing light, Hunmek padded to the top bunk of his own Garde, laying him down.

"Me in the trouble?" Three inquired shakily and sadly.

"Of course not. Unless you don't go to sleep," Hunmke just smiled through the darkness of the room in a hushed voice, "then I might just have to..."

Reaching forward with his now free hand, he began scampering his fingers all over the boy's stomach. The little began giggling innocently from the tickling, wriggling comfortably against his covers and squirming in playfulness. Chuckling again, he bent over the railing of the bed and kisssed his forehead.

"Sleep tight."

* * *

"That toy MINE!"

Even if he hadn't been in there long, Three could tell his bestie was less than happy. She was in a position to tackle Six, who was clutching her toy car. Both girls were glaring daggers at each other. From the side, Katarina, Six's Cepan, was coming closer in quick strides. Five's Cepan, Jemstone, was simply watching, looking solemn and unamused. By the look in her eyes, she was expecting her child to stop the nonsense by herself, without any reprimadation needed.

"No! I was up first!" Six aruged, clutching the toy tighter against her chest.

"It don't matter!" Five protested loudly, raising up her two tiny fists, "it MY toy and you knowed that!"

Before anybody could attack anybody, Katarina managed to grab her charge around the waist. Six started to kick and squeal before Three's curios, worried eyes, still gripping the toy tight.

"It...it no nice to take others' toys," Three offered before Katarina could reprimend either of the other Garde, "but...it nice to share, too."

Katarina nodded in agreement, "I think you girls need to play some different toys. This was is just causing trouble."

To comply with her statement, she managed to wrestle the plastic item from her Garde's reach. This resulted in some serious pouting from both little girls, or at least until the Cepan handed it over to Three. Obviously feeling pretty satisified, Katarina reached into a toy boy and pulled out two little dolls, handing them to the younger female before disappearing into the kitchen. Once her gaze was away, both older girls to him whirled around.

"Three..." Five fluttered her little eyelashes for effect, "can I please have MY toy?"

"Three..." Six curled up her fingers into a fist, "gimme that toy or I'll clobber ya!"

The young child clutched the truck to his chest. Both girls were both v_ery _convincing, but he didn't like the fighting. He'd rather help out the situation to make both sides happy. He wasn't much of a violent type; he was more of a peacemaker between people. His Grandmama told him he was a little helper, too. Even though he knew she was far, far away, he wanted to make her happy.

"Can't we all share?" he offered sweetly, "Five...Six never playeded with this toy 'afore."

"B-but..." the five-year-old sputtered, "what am I 'apposed to do?!"

Six cast a look over, feeling a little guilty now for upsetting them. That's when all three of them noticed the little blonde, Four, had the other toy truck, and was looking quite content at getting to play with it.

"Nevermind. I'll just go take his!" she smirked a bit as she hurried over.

"B-but..." Three sputtered, seeing that his plan had just failed...a lot.

"Yeah," Five actually started to smirk, "you can have that you, Three. I'll go help her!"

With that, both girls were gone. The innocent little toddler could only stare at them in disbelief. He had really tried, but now they were friends? Pouting a little, he plopped down himself, started to roll back and forth his toy.

"Voom voom..."


	5. Giggles

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 5

It appeared he was being double-teamed against. Poor little Number For did not appreciate that.

At _all_.

In his wide, intelligent, darkly beautiful blue eyes, he had been a good boy. He had done everything Brandon had asked him to do, just like his Grandma and Grandpa told him to do always. He had done all the pre-combat training like a good boy. He'd even tried to make friends with the other young Garde, even though he was one of the youngest and quite shy. Especially to the energetic Number Nine, he'd attempted coming out of his shell.

Of course Nine was always keyed up to notice, but they were sweet attempts.

So that's why it just wasn't _fair _he had to be the one to get his toy taken.

To him, Five and Six were just big bullies. They were only a little older than him, but they acted like they were so much better than them. So what if they were stronger? So what if they were both really pretty to him? So what?

Apparently so _everything_, considering they'd just dashed over and stolen his toy monster truck.

"Hey!" he whined when he discovered it gone, narrowing his eyes at Five and Six, who were giggling to themselves as they played with it; they'd gotten it when he was "going pee-pee."

Now he turned away from them sharply, his temper getting the better of him. He was angry at himself _and _at them. He wished he was as smooth as them, or as strong, or maybe even as pretty. But he knew that he wasn't, so he was upset. Backing up, being sure to stomp his bare little feet, he gave the wall a sharp kick. The action sent up waves of pain through his toes and foot bones, but he just kicked it again and again.

_Maybe, if I kick it enough times...maybe I can be strong in my foot! Then...then...I can kick my monster truck free of their girlie cooties! Yeah! But owwwiee, it hurts.._

"Four..." Brandon noticed his Garde's attempt at becoming stronger, "what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get real strong!" he replied, not breaking his concentration for his task at hand, "so those girls can't push me around no more!"

The well-trained Cepan raised an eyebrow, "What girls have been pushing you around?"

Finally, Four couldn't hide it any longer; tears budded in his eyes, "Five and Six took my monster truck."

Brandon cast a suspicious glance over to the two girls. While the older man valued the importance of sharing and compromise, he also frowned upon acts like stealing. He should know that they'd taken it without his permission- who do you think had help him go "pee-pee?"

"Well, don't worry about your strength just yet," he assured the young boy, scooping him up and plopping him carefully down on the floor, "I'll go take care of it for you."

The little boy watched, sticking his thumb in his mouth as his guardian went over to his 'bullies'. He couldn't exactly make out the words they were all saying, but Five and Six were pouting by the end of their little discussion. Looking reluctant, Five stood up and faced the corner; Four's mouth dropped open a bit at that, but his jaw nearly hit the floor when Six stood behind her in the same position. Seeming accomplished, Brandon scooped up the toy, striding back over and extending it to 'his' little boy.

"All better," Brandon even winked a little; Four attempted to mimic said wink.

The Cepan couldn't help but laugh a bit as the young blonde squinted his eyes, face twisting as he tried to close only one eye. The older boy- Eight- noticed this from where he was playing dolls with Seven and Two again. Giggling himself, he walked over, squatting down in front of the younger.

"Like this!" he explained, looking quite proud to demonstrating something all by himself, even if all he did was wink, "all you gotta do is close one eye 'stead of both of 'em!'

Face proving his determination, Four scrunched up his little nose and eyes in concentration. For a while, Brandon could only quietly chuckle as his charge attempted to wink. Despite the circumstances, it didn't take much from his the young, shy, even-tempered blonde child to get the more solemn, business-like Cepan smiling or, at the very least, humored,

"I can't do it!" the boy finally announced his defeat, jutting out his lower lip.

"There are worse things in life, kiddo," his Cepan reached down, ruffling up his half-wild blonde hair, "don't worry too much about it. It took me years of practice to get to where I could do it."

"R-really? So….so if I train real hard, I can do it, too?" Four inquired hopefully, his shining.

"Yep."

In all actuality, it had only taken the now man about a week to get _winking _down. However, how the older man saw it was a hidden message: If you practice and work hard enough at something you want, you can achieve it. Of course it was easy to express that to a little kid who only wanted to please, but Brandon knew in advance it'd be a little trickier when his 'son' was a teenager. Either way, if he implanted that philosophy in early on, it may be to both of their benefits as they aged.

For now, though, both of them were pretty content as Four tried to practice winking while pushing around his precious toy.

* * *

**"**Time to get up."

Four whined at the commanding statement from his Cepan. Most of the time, the little boy was quite eager to up and quite whiney to go down. Of course he wasn't ever _nearly _as keyed up as Nine, but it was typical of young children, especially boys, who had energy in their DNA and nature. He could only hear his gaurdian chuckle shortly as his bed shifted, proving he was joined in the bed. Moments later, he felt the covers being lifted from his small, slightly chubby body; he whined from the throat in protest. As the child curled up into a meek ball, shutting his eyes tighter, the Cepan lifted the tired thing up into his arms.

"Come on, kid," he urged, shifting the boy's head onto his shoulder, "wake up."

"But Brandddonnn..." the younger whined pathetically, wriggling in quieted protest, "I don't waannnaaaa."

Brandon didn't really know how to respond to that instantly. After all, he still wasn't a spealist when it came to kids- or youth, really. He figured himself to not be _that _bad, but being around Four and the other children was certaintly staring to teach him. As he looked at the small sleepy boy in his lap, he was reminded of himself in the mornings, especially as a youngester. That's when it occured to him what method he could use without hurting anyone's feelings or either of them getting impatient.

"Now, don't make me do what my grandfather used to do to me," he teased.

The child's eyelashes fluttered, "W-what...what did your grandpa used to do to you?"

"Oh, you know..." he teased further, reaching down and setting the youngester's feet to rest near his lap as well to where he was sitting sideways with his small- yet heavy- head on his chest, "he just introduced me to a little _friend _of his."

"Friend?" Another flutter of his small eyelashes.

"And do you know what this friend's name was?" he smirked, though the barely-above toddler couldn't see it.

"No..." the blonde wriggled a bit in anticipation of whatever was to come.

Leaning in close, the black-haired man whispered slowly and tauntingly, "His name is the _Tickle Monster_."

Without another moment of waiting, the older started to wriggle his fingers all over the undersides of Four's white, bubble-appearing toes. It didn't take but a moment before the four-year-old burst into a fit of wild giggles, squirming playfully ontop of his older's lap. Laughing shortly himself, Brandon moved the playful, scrambling tickles down his pale soles, sending the boy into a fit of even harder giggles.

"Noooo!" Four mewled, grinning wildly, "it ticklesss! They can s_eeee_!"

As if to prove the youth's squeaks, Nine looked over in alert to the year-younger boy's bunk. He started giggling himself at the sight of the fellow Garde getting his feet tickled all over by his Cepan with wild giggles from said tickling victim; Four blushed a little. From underneath the top bunk, Eight peeked up, grinning himself while Three watched curiously.

"Well, are you ready to wake up?" the older taunted, moving his wriggling fingers up to tickle the boy's shirt-free sides and underarms.

With his giggles falling over each other frantically, the boy squealed playfully, "No more Tickle Monster, Brandonnnnn! Me get up, me get _up_!"

"Good man," the dark-haired guy laughed out loud at this point, grabbing the thinner ankles of his charge and flipping him upside down playfully, "now, let's go get some breakfast."

* * *

"Ahhh!"

Four squealed as soon as he realized his toy was, once again, gone. Sticking out his little lower lip for a huge pout, he stomped his small foot and gave the wall a kick, just as he'd done before. From nearby, he couldn't help but notice Six clutching something behind her back. She was smirking a bit at first, but the smile slowly began to fade. After all, he _was _super duper upset. He kind of wanted her to see that, too.

After a few more kicks to the wall, Six finally caved and handed over the plastic police car.

"Sorry," she mumured, looking down just as Katarina noticed her Garde encountered a boy she'd given a hard time with before.

"It okay..." Four blushed a little bit, taking his toy back hiestantly, "um...but...if you wanna play with it, you can, too."

"No...I don't deserve it," she confessed smally, rocking back and forth on her thin, tiney heels as her Cepan rose, "Katarina might get real mad at me again, anyway. She said that if I got in another fight she'd send me to my room for the rest of the night."

Now that he thought back on it, Four remembered how she'd gotten into an argument with Nine. He didn't want her to get in 'no more' trouble; she was pretty. Besides, he wanted to be her friend so she wouldn't push him around. Plopping down carelessly on his bum, he pulled her to floor, too.

"Come on," he offered shyly, "maybe we can take turns."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Katarina pause; he smiled. In his eyes, he'd just made everything all better by keeping Six out of trouble. But Six didn't seem to think so, she was pouting now and crossing her arms. His triumphed smile disappeared as he mimicked the sticking out of the lower lip, leaning forward to keep in her eyes; he did that when he wanted someone to listen good. Surprised, she fell onto her back, letting him crawl ontop of her in a straddle to her thin waist.

"Don't be sad," he gave her a pouty face, "or...or I'll let you meet Brandon's lil' friend!"

"Who's that?" she squinted her eyes suspciously, trying to remember if there was anyone she didn't already know on the ship.

"Yeah!" Four giggled know at knowing something she didn't, "his name is the _Tickle Monster_!"

Turning around quickly, he tried pulling off her pretty pink shoes to get at her bare feet. He wasn't fast enough, however, and she'd already 'met' the Tickle Monster from her grandmother once; she laughed already as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Now he squealed as she wrestled him easily to the ground as well, pulling up his small blue shirt and pressing her lips to his helpless bellybutton.

_PFFFFTTT!_

Four squealed with wild giggles as air was blown directly in this ticklish skin. Wiggling wildly with playful kicks to go with his giggles, he managed to grab her foot and pull off her shoe. As she started tickling his sides, he went after her toes, making her shriek with girlish, high giggles herself. Both of them rolled around for a while, laughing wildly at the fun and ticklishness as the Cepans looked on with sad chuckles of their own.

Niether of the small children knew how their innocence was limited.

Even so he could feel the others watching again, though, Four couldn't help but giggle. Why? Because despite everything, the little blonde was still happy.


	6. Not a Baby

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 6

"Naptime."

At this word, all of the young Garde on the ship simtunously groaned. Of the loudest, of course, were Nine and Five. Niether of them were ever easy to put down, especially for poor Sandor and Jemstone. What was more, both of their Cepans weren't very restful themselves- it was always quite interesting. The other Cepans began scooping up their charges easily, and depsite whining and begging for 'no naptime', it was relatively easy.

Hoping for some miracle to allow her the same luxary, Jemstone began approaching Five. The little girl, however, was detirmined not to go down so easy.

"But Jemmmm!" the five-year-old whined, crossing her arms stubbornly, "do I _have _too?"

"Yes, you have too," Jem scooped the little up, trying to contain the frantic kicking/squirming that ensued this action, "Brandon said so just a minute ago, remember?"

"He not my Cepan!" she protested sharply, only renewing the energy in her already strong kicks, "you my Cepan! And he not tell us what to do no more! He not the boss of me or you or anyone! Nobody but Four!"

Upon hearing that from across the open plan, Four couldn't help but start pouting, "He is too! Brandon the _big _boss, and what he say go!"

Five glared at the younger boy. She didn't like being controlled, especially when she knew that was always right. All the dummy adults just didn't believe her, and that's why things got really stupid sometimes. Like taking naps was, in fact. Now she just kept twisting around while keeping her intense scowl looked at the other blonde Garde on the ship; she smirked confidently when Four shrank down. She did not smirk, on the other hand, when both Brandon _and _Jemstone gave her mean looks. Instead of smirking, she shrank down a little too and stuck out her lower lip.

"No naptime!" she insisted lively, "I'm not a baby!"

"Yes naptime," Jem hefted her charge over one shoulder with that, beginning to tot the squirming child into the girls' room.

From over her shoulder, Five caught a glimspe of Four and Brandon going into the boys' room. As he watched her over Brandon's shoulder, she saw Four smirk a bit as she struggled. This just made her angrier, of course, which inspired her to kick Jemstone's stomach sharply. Much to her satisfaction, her constraint loosened from the alarm, giving her the perfect chance to jerk free. If she'd known how hard she was going to fall, she wouldn't have, but when her feet hit the ground, pain zipped through her toes. Arms flailing uselessly in a failed attempt in balance, the skinny little girl fell onto her rear at full force.

Despite Brandon, Jemstone, and Four all watching, her eyes teared up as she began to cry.

"Five..." Jem coaxed, squating down quickly and wrapping the young thing in her arms gently, "Five, are you alright?"

"Ouchie!" the little girl protested to the pain now in her backside and foot, rubbing both frantically with some wincing, "Jemstone, it hurtttss! Make boo-boos go bye bye!"

"Sleep will make it all better..." the younger Mentor Cepan trainee saw a chance within her pleading Garde's words.

"It...it will?" Five inquired, squinting her eyes suspsciously.

_She no lie to me, but what if it a trick to make me go night! Me no wanna go night night! But it hurts.._

"Promise," the Cepan even offered her pinkie, sealing their little deal.

"Okay!" the blonde girl stood up quickly, scurrying into the bedroom and climbing up the later obediantley, "night night, Jem!"

* * *

Even if she really hated naps, she hated getting woken up when she was trying to sleep even more than that. But Nine was jumping up and down on her, making her legs hurt really bad. She practically growled at him, grabbing his hair and yanking; he squealed angerily.

"Sandor saided we have to go into big room!" he growled at his age-equal, "or else!"

"Whatever, Nine! You a liar!" she squirmed to free herself from his pin, trying to yank the covers over her head, "you always try to play trick on me! But guess what? Me smarter than YOU!"

"Um...Five..." Four's shy, meek, and soft voice piped from behind Nine's conquering form, "he not lie. We do gotta go to big room."

"Kay, Four. Me believe _YOU_!" she replied with a smug little smile to Nine, finally managing to struggle out from underneath him and scrambling down the latter.

"Hey! Wait for ME!" Nine whined, bolting after the two blondes.

Once the three of them finally got to the 'big room', Five could tell things were all serious. All of the Cepans looked really, really unsure, but like they knew they had to do that. It was like when Jem tried to get her to eat veggies-yuck! None the less, she had a bad feeling it was even worse than eating veggies. Like it was goin be big trouble.

"Children..." even Brandon sounded uncertain, "we're going to need you all to warm up for us, okay?"

"But why?!" Nine asked loudly before she could.

"Just do it, buddy," Sandor sighed from where he was all bent over beside Brandon; Five pouted at Jem, but she just nodded.

Though she really didn't wanna, the five-year-old started doing as she was told. Like normal, Two, Three, and Seven were kind having a hard time with the pushups and jumping jacks. Also like normal, Nine and Eight were doing it real fast with Six. Four was going all slow again, which just annoyed the year-older. She was never much for patience, anyway. While the Cepans were all talking in some secret circle shape, she walked over to Four and pinched his side.

"Owie!" he squeaked in protest, "what that for?"

"You stop being slow. You go _fast_," she explained, starting to jump up and down as fast as she could bend her small knees, "like me! It fun!"

"But...but Brandon saided that I gotta be careful," he looked so confuzzled she felt bad for him, "so me no die. You can't die either, Five..."

"Me no care if me die!" she sang out carefressly, doing a spin on her small, thin heels, "I'm not goin die! You only got one life, Four, so you gotta live it with _fun_!"

Even though she saw her Cepan's sad eyes, Five didn't completely comprehend the sadness that brought Jemstone.

* * *

"Ouch...owie, Eight, it _hurttss_!"

As soon as she started whimpering, Eight got off of Seven. Five scowled at him; even their Cepans didn't look happy! The five year old blonde girl crossed her arms as Seven skirted behind her, looking real scared.

_What a baby. _

"Alright, Five," Jemstone finally spoke out, sending a nervous look toward Sandor before getting more calm by looking at Brandon, "now it's your turn. You're going to go against Four, alright?"

"What?!" the little girl crossed her arms angerily, "I wanna cream Nine!"

"Nine has already gone against One," Brandon reminded, nudging his Garde out from behind him gently, "go on, you two."

The little girl glared a bit at the man but faced her opponent. He looked at her all scared, stepping back into Brandon and even raising his arms to hide his face. Rolling her eyes, the other blonde tackled him around the waist, sending both of them crashing. For about a minute, they flailed with each other on the ground before Four cried out; she'd elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Owie!" he yelled, swatting at her face frantically, "get offf!"

"You a baby, too!" she yelled back, her frustration showing as she hefted herself off.

_That's why I wanted Nine! __Why do I gotta get the crybaby?! _

Her bitter thought, however, was cut off when she was brought to her knees, then to the ground. Four was on top of her, looking all mad about what you said. She, of course, got mad at that, too, and shoved him off halfway. He managed to keep a grip with his knees, however, trapping the little girl's ribs. Anger bubbled up higher, bringing bitter tears to her eyes. At the sight, he actually _smirked_ at her.

"You're a baby!" he sang out.

Glaring at the name, she swung her small, bony fist. It connected sharply with his chest, making him gasp and tears bud in his own eyes.

"I not a baby!" he protested with a sniff, sitting up and crossing his arms at her.

"Me not a baby, either!" she pouted, squirming until she was sitting up with him on the ground, back down.

"Niether of you are babies, but you're acting like them," Brandon sighed, reaching out and grabbing both of their arms, "do you two need a timeout to calm yourselves?"

"I said me not a _baby_!" Four shouted, stomping down on his feet. Five giggled.

_Maybe this kid isn't so bad, _she thought with a little smirk, even as they got put in time out.


	7. Cooties

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 7

"So, I was thinking we could all play a game together. Like a family."

Six poked out her lower lips at those words from Adel, Seven's Cepan. She was always a believer in that "home is where the heart is" stuff, which meant she was always trying to bond everybody. Brandon- that Four boy's Cepan- was always telling her not too do that. But she out a board game, so apparently she still wasn't listening.

"Adel..." Brandon sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Come on...please?" Adel's soft brown eyes were pleading and her lip was quivering.

Now Six sighed herself. She didn't like to see Adel-or anyone, for that matter- all sad over something. Besides, she knew that Brandon could be a real meanie butt. Walking over quickly, she took the game from the Cepan's hands and put it on the ground. Now Brandon was looking at her all weird; she stuck out her tongue. Slowly, Four walked out from behind his Cepan's back, joining the olive skinned little girl on the ground.

"How do we play?" he asked softly, not looking completely sure of himself.

"It's called Chutes and Latters," Adel explained just as softly, breaking her gaze from Brandon and joining the two little Garde on the ground, "you roll this dye, and whatever number you land on, you move your piece that many times on the board. If you get a latter, you get to go up. If you get a chute, you have to go down."

"Is it...fun?" Six asked suspiciously.

Adel chuckled, "Yes, I think so."

The sixth number wasted no time flinging off the lid of the box, then exclaiming, "HEY! There's only six pieces!"

Four stuck out his lower lip, looking discouraged, "But...there's...one, two, three..." he squinted, frowning after number eight, "um...a lot of us!"

"Who all wants to play first?" Seven's Cepan offered, looking only slighty more nervous than before.

"Me!" Six stuck her hand in the air first, grabbing Four's and thrusting it up as well, "so does he!"

"I'll play," Five crawled out from her sleeping Cepan's lap, plopping on Six's other side and grabbing one of the pieces eagerly, "that makes...three of us!"

"I'll be Number Four!" Nine turned around, running over and practically running over all the pieces and the board in his haste to sit beside Five; both girls scowled.

"But me Number Four!" Four protested, looking confused as he stuck out his lower lip.

"Mind if I join in?" Sandor voiced from where he _was _standing with Nine, scooping the spirited young boy off of the ground and sitting himself down in the same spot, adjusting the child in his lap.

"Anyone else?" the shier Cepan offered; Seven just pressed herself further in the corner with Two and Jacques, who were reading a book, as One argued about having a snack with Hessu, Three took a nap, and Eight occupied himself with two little toy cars.

"I guess you're in too, Adel," Sandor smiled from the ground; she blushed.

Six made a face at that. Both of them were getting all mushy around each other; it was gross. People in love had cooties- that's what all the boys in her old nieghboorhood said- so she had to stay away, or she'd have cooties just like all the other girls on the street. The little stubborn child certainly didn't want that at all. At that thought, she scooted a little closer to Four and further from Nine and Sandor.

_Icky lovebirds. _

Soon, all six players were engrossed in the game. Sandor, it turnedout, had a real knack for board games. Nine, it also turned out, had a real knack for _not _playing board games. The more times he kept getting chutes, the angrier he kept getting. Finally, he stood up and made a lunge, as if to knock all the pieces away. Six, however, tackled him before he could.

"Don't be a sore loser!" she demanded loudly, digging her small, bony knees into his stomach.

"Well, get _offa me_!" he demanded just as loudly and forcefully, wriggling under her wieght, "Sandor, make her stopp!"

"Sorry, buddy," Sandor just chuckled, putting an arm around Adel 'casually', "but you got yourself into this one. You're on your own."

"NO FAIR!" he squealed in return.

"So? Are you gonna not be a sore loser?" the olive-skinned girl pinned him down by the shoulders now, happy that she was goin' be stopped by those dummy adults for once.

"Maybe," he grunted, jerking up sharply by his right and rolling her off, "HA! I'm stronger than YOUUU!"

"You are not!" she growled, grabbing him around the waist and yanking him down as well, "do you want to say that _differently_?"

"Ahhhh! Sorry!" the slightly smaller boy yelped, still scowling.

"Alright, you two," Brandon finally decided to intervene by slowly beginning to pry the little girl off of the young menace, "break it up before you have to have some cool down time in your rooms."

"But it's not _fair!_" came a whine from Nine.

"Whatever," the other Garde just shrugged, scowling at both of them a bit before calling over to her friend, "Five, I need back-up!"

Both girls rushed over to Brandon, both barely a blurr as they connected with waist. Being a couple of years shy of forty, Brandon didn't have nearly the resistance to their youthful power he would've about a decade earlier; he crashed to the ground. Both Adel and Sandor gasped in unison, rising to help him back on his feet. Exchanging only a brief look, Five and Six both tackled Nine back the ground before rushing into their room, giggling all the way.

_Well, that was more fun I thought it was gonna be! _

* * *

"Whatcha lookin at?" One looked over the younger girl's shoulder, pressing her nose to the cool glass curiously.

"What's it look like I'm lookin at?" the younger retorted, not breaking her gaze from the trillions upon trillion of stars while the older rolled her eyes.

"Let me _rephrase _that," she shot back, "_why_?"

"Kentra saided that if I look real super close, I could see it when we passed through a new galaxy thing!" the dark-haired child replied, pressing her nose against it further.

"Well, I want to see too!" One did the same despite herself.

As the two girls stood together, squinting through the emptiness of space, their Cepans could only smile to each other. It was nice to see, at least. For a time in life, two of the remaining Garde were getting along and happy together. For one time in life, things were perfect again.

_Kentra is such a liar..._Six pouted out her lower lip, _I don't see nothin!_

* * *

There was only so must you could do on a spaceship before you started getting bored.

Now the normally excitable, determined girl was sprawled out on her belly, staring at her hands against the cool tile. Pre-combat training wasn't supposed to start for the next hour or so- mainly because most of everybody else was still asleep- so she was bored out of her skull. The ship was almost total except, for the faint glow on the stars on the window directly above where she was laying. Absently, she rolled one of the tiny toy cars back and forth.

"You're awake early," that's about the time Eight plopped down beside her.

"So are you," she looked over at him in alarm, "why are you up?"

"Reynolds and I always get up before everybody else," he flopped down so that his head was even with her knees from where they both were laying, "he said it's good for the mind...or somethin' like that."

"That weird..." Six decided, rolling over onto her side, "I couldn't sleep. It sucks."

"Well, that's not a very nice word," Reynolds commented from where he was sitting down to watch the two young Garde, "how about you say it a little bit different?"

"Um...okay, it...it's a pain in the a-"

"That's not what I meant," the Cepan cut her off, frowning a bit, "that's even worse, Six."

"Then how am I supposed to say it?!" she demanded with a scowl, crossing her small, slightly chubby arms angerily at being corrected twice.

"How about you say it _bites_?" Eight suggested casually, folding his hands behind his head and allowing his short shirt to ride up his stomach a couple of inches; he was growing fast, and those were the only clothes he had.

"Atta boy, Eight," Reynolds commended, reaching out and lifting the still-pouting little girl into his lap, "what's with the frowny face, kiddo?"

"I hate being wrong," she pouted further, turning her face away from the Cepan.

_He's a meanie..._

"Sorry, Six..." Eight sat up now, crawling over to her and pressing his nose to hers gently, "forgive us?"

He fluttered his eyelids for emphasize; she giggled. He was being real silly, and she liked that. It gave her something to do so she wasn't so freaking bored on the lousy spaceship. He reached behind her, starting to tickle her tootsies; she giggled again, harder now. He really _was _a silly-billy. Trying to make him giggle, too, she reached up and tickled his bellybutton lightly, which was all open 'cause of his shirt. As soon as she did it, he squealed with giggles.

"Tickle Monster's goin' _get you_!" she sing-sang, moving to tickle further while Reynolds laughed at the two of them quietly.

Squeaking in alarm, he rolled to his feet and took off into the seat. For as long as either of them could tell, they raced around, squealing with giggles when they managed to tickle the other briefly. Of course their fun got cut short when Brandon finally opened the door, just about the time Kentra did and Sandor poked his head out.

"What are you two doing?" Kentra yawned out first, standing in front of her Garde.

"Playin'..." Six replied innocently as Brandon stood in front of Eight.

"Well, go to your rooms," Brandon grumbled a bit, rubbing his bleary eyes and turning back for the doors, "the rest of us need some sleep."

"But Reynolds let us play!" Eight protested in perfect concidental sync with Six; the two shared a smile at each other.

"Then just keep it down..." Sandor ducked his head back in. Six saw a glimspe of Adel in his bed and made a gag in her throat of disgust.

_Well, now that room has cooties! _

"Come on, Six," Eight took her hand, starting to lead her back into the main area, "we can play monster trucks 'stead!"

"Okay!" she grinned, accepting. She felt all nice and warm with him, and...

_Eww, now I have cooties! _


	8. Security

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 8

"Will you tell me a bedtime story?"

_Kind of like Grandpa used to do, _Seven finished in her head, gazing up with wide, hopeful eyes at her beloved Cepan.

"Of course," Adel smiled gently, scooting to sit closer to her Garde's laying form in her bottom bunk bed, "which one would you like to hear about tonight?"

"Can you tell me a new story?" the seven-year-old rested her head in the woman's lap.

"Sure," the older female agreed with another gentle smile, beginning to tell a new tale that she learned when she was a young girl, "Once upon a time, a little boy named Daydri lived with his big brother in a little hut in the Karabak. Both of the brothers were very happy together on Lorien, you see. One day, a shooting star came down and landed in a Serenity Pool the Karabak thrived on. Nobody knew quite what to do with this new thing, or who to call to take care of it. Daydri's brother, being a brave young man, tried to pick it up to put it back into the sky. He was burned badly, though. Daydri spent the next couple of days healing his burns and wondering how he could help the other Karabak."

"Wow...so the stars meant bad?" the little girl looked out of the circular window at the millions the ship was passing.

"Well, to the Karabak it was really scary and new," the Cepan replied for clarfication, making 'her' child relax, "well, after Daydri's brother was healed again, Daydri decided that he was going to try to do what his brother had done. He was a very brave young boy, despite his brother warning that was a bad idea. When morning fell again, he went out to the fallen star while others watched on."

"Did Daydri get burned, too?" Seven intrupted, anticipating.

"I'm going to that," Adel replied patiently, "the really amazing thing was: He didn't."

"But how?!"

"Be patient, Seven, and I'll tell you," the Cepan responded calmly, "Daydri had an amazing new power that nobody had ever seen before: Energy manupulation. That meant he was able to hold the star without being burned, basically. When he wasn't burned, Daydri took the fallen star and tossed it right back into the sky. All of the Karabak cheered and even gave him a special dinner, but there was person who showed up who wasn't invited: Pittacus Lore."

"That's Lorien's big leader Elder man!" Seven gasped, the stars shining in her big brown eyes.

"Yes, that's right," the woman smiled at her change's rememberance of Lorien's history and Elders who sacrificed themselves, "when he came, everybody bowed. Pittacus, however, allowed Daydri to stand early and began to commend him of his bravery. He even offered for Daydri to come with him to the Elder's place of power for a secret conferance."

"And...and what happened to Daydri?" Now all five girls, including Seven, were watching Adel intensely, eager for this brave young man's fate.

"He was taught many things by the Elders, and eventually, he helped find the stones that awakened all of the Legacies as well as the Chimera," the oldest in the room smiled, "and that is how our Elder Daydri came to be. He was the seventh to join."

"Does that mean I'm goin' be like Daydri one day?" the dark-haired little girl gasped.

"Why yes it does," her Cepan bent over and kissed her forehead, "brave, selfless, and very powerful. You are going to be a very strong Garde one day, Seven. I guarentee it."

"Hey..." Six gave a little whine from where she was on the top of the bunk bed the two girls shared, "hey, who do I take after?! I wanna here about my Elder!"

"I'll let you about them in the morning," Adel promised, rising and flicking off the light, "goodnight, girls."

The seven-year-old just smiled. She was going to be a really brave, selfless, (or whatever that meant; she wasn't sure,) and powerful Elder! And the other girls weren't, so she wasn't going to be all scared of them no more. It was perfect!

* * *

"Hey, Seven! Look at this!" Six called over her older friend, holding up her green-coated hands, "Reynolds gived us some finger paint!"

The shy, meek girl skirted over curiously. Sure enough, paints were all over the floor and wall...as well as over Six, Eight, and Nine. Two was dabbing some on Three's face while One argued with Five about something; it looked fun. But what if she got in trouble? After all, she knew that the first three she'd seen with paint all over had a habit of geting corner time and being sent to their rooms.

"It okay!" Eight offered his purple-coated hand to her, "Reynolds said we could play all we want and nothing bad would happen!"

"Well...okay..." She finally accepted, picking up a dark green container and squirting it on her hand, "what do I paint?"

"You paint me!" Nine crowed at the chance at getting more attention, stepping on some containers and not minding all the paint that leaked out upon being released.

Once he was plopped down in front of her, the little girl started to draw a circle for his head. As she painted, she wondered where Four was; he never was around the other Garde and her. He was always hiding behind Brandon or following the adults. She knew that he was super shy, but she wanted to help him make friends. It made her pretty sad to see him look sad when he was all alone with a toy.

"My face don't look like a ciwcle!" Nine complained at the picture already, "it all...hawdsome! Not a ciwcle!"

"What is going on in here?!" Brandon's strict voice alarmed all of the young children suddenly, making Seven jump and scramble rapidly to her feet, face flushed as she helplessly tried covering her artwork on the wall.

"R...Rey...Reynolds gived us paint..." Eight squeaked out, cowering down under Brandon's intense, unamused gaze.

_Reynolds musta lied...or Eight did...now we all goin get in trouble! I promised Grandpa I'd be a good girl, though..._Seven began to cry at the thought of her old best friend of Lorien ever knowing she was a bad girl.

"All of you better clean this up," Brandon just sighed.

Seven noticed as well that young Four was hiding behind his beloved Cêpan's back again. Unable to help herself anymore, the seven year old hurried over to the younger child, offering out her hand.

"Will you help me clean up my paint?" she asked sweetly.

"Now Seven," Brandon reprimanded the dark-haired cutie, "you know that if you made the mess by yourself, it's only fair to you and those around you that you clean it up by yourself."

Her face flushed as Four shied back further.

_I can't do nothing right..._

* * *

"Seven...you look really sad. Why are you all frowny?" Eight asked, frowning.

The other seven-year-old peeked up meekly. She was honestly still beating herself up about what happened with the paint, and it was really starting to grind on her self esteem. She didn't know how insecure she was at that point, but Eight could certainly see it.

"'Cause me can't do nothing right..." she mumbled.

He frowned, "What do you mean you can't do nothing right? I bet...I bet you can do lots of stuff right! Stuff I can't do!"

"R-really?" she mumbled disbelievingly, "like what?"

"Well...um..." he put his hand to his chin in thought, "hm...can you breathe?"

"Of course I can breathe...so can you..." the future Marina simply stared at his seemingly pointless question, "what does that matter? Everybody can do that!"

"You can do something right, then," he just grinned bashfully, "and you can...you do stuff like move and smile and blink and...and...a whole bunch of stuff!"

"But that's not...special," she frowned.

"Then...can you sing?" he inquired curiously, taking her hand in his just-as-small one.

"I don't know no songs...Grandpa used to say I was a good dancer, though..." she tried, blushing a bright pink that could be a cherry to shame.

"Okay! Then me can sing, and you can dance!" the more extroverted boy declared, sitting down and looking up at her with a silly, bright white grin, "okie? You start to dance when I start to sing!"

"What are you goin sing?" she wrinkled her forehead.

"It's a surprise!"

Clearing his throat, he began to sing out a song his grandmother used to sing. In Seven's opinion, he sounded totally pretty when he sang, and she loved. As he sang out a slow, happy song and smiled, she moved around his circles and spun and giggled, just like she used to do with her grandfather.

"_Hey pretty girl, _

_Won't you sing with me? _

_Won't you come with me? _

_We'll go out in the pale moonlight, _

_And stay together until the mood is right. _

_Hey pretty girl, _

_Won't you sing with me?" _

Giggling as he finished up the song, she found herself grabbing his wrists and jerking him to his feet. As they got near each other's faces, Seven found her face growing hotter and hotter. She thought he was super duper cool...what if she scared him like she did Four? But he just smiled and kissed her nose like his Cêpan did to him sometimes.

"Can you teach me the dance?" he asked sweetly.

"Yeah!" she could hardly believe her luck, but she was now grinning just as wide as him, "can you teach me that song?"

"Okay!" he agreed, then added, "but I can't dance..."

"That's okay. I can't sing," she kissed his nose in return for his to her, making boths' cheeks burn bright.

And together, the two young children danced and sang around until the endless night finally faded completely into a warm, blissful, dream-filled rest.


	9. Capture the Block

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 9

_**Author Note:**_So sorry about the long wait for an update on this story! Reviews help speed me up, though...:3.

* * *

Everyday was an adventure for Number Eight.

Even back on Lorien, the little seven-year-old loved to explore everything and always found something new to discover. Lorien _w_as his playground, and having a Cepan now like Reynolds was perfect. After all, both of them were the models of curious young Loric with ambition and good heads on their shoulders. Being on a small ship was a bit troubling to both of them, but they were certainly making dude.

Eight even managed to make a best friend his age.

"You're super quiet," he told her one day and tilted his head to the side, "why?" _  
_

Marina blushed a little bit and he smiled. He thought that was super duper cute, just like her! She told him, "Um...cause I don't like to talk..."

"Why?"

"'Cause I don't know what to say..."

"Why?"

"'Cause I'm stupid..."

He frowned, "No you're not...why do you think that?"

"'Cause I am..."

"Why?"

She looked down and he gave her a big bear hug, "You can't tell me 'cause it's not true. You're super pretty and nice and smart and I like you 'cause you're my best friend!"

Marina looked up in alarm and smiled with tears in her eyes, "R-really?"

"Really really!" Eight grinned and grabbed her hands when they got done hugging, "come on! There's a place in the wall where you can right outside!"

"W-wow..." Marina whispered in response, accepting his hold on her hands and following him to the secret spot in the ship Eight had discovered all by himself on one of his many 'expeditions'.

He grabbed the drawer of the cooking area first, boosting himself up with ease and climbing ontop of the refrigerator. He frowned when she hesitated meekly, moving down and offering his hand. After he smiled, she was reassured enough to accept his grasp and heft herself up with a slight level of struggle. Still hand in hand, the two children crawled the top of the fridge. Once they were up and crouched as to not hit their heads, the little boy reached up and released the small hatchet that led up to a storage space with a small area still cleared out. There was solid material aside from the small window at the very top that cast a beautiful patch of starlight on the cold floor, and it took both of their breaths away.

"Right here..." he whispered in a soft voice that was quite unlike them.

Their hands still firmly held together, they crawled the rest of the way up and laid on their stomachs in the palelight. And somehow, they both knew in that gorgeous, perfect moment that neither of them would ever forget those moments where they were together as friends-best friends- under the breathtaking glory of a galaxy far away.

* * *

"Reynolds?"

"Yes, Eight?"

"Can we play with the finger paints again?"

The seven-year-old was completely bored- after all, one could only play with trucks for so long before getting exhausted of the same thing. Much to his disappointment, his Cepan frowned and shook his head a bit sadly. Ever since the last time the little Garde had gotten into the finger paint and got it all over the main part of the ship, Brandon had personally confiscated it from not only them but from the adventurous, kleptomaniac mentor Cepan. Now both Garde and Cepan were in a predicament for something to do for the day's adventure; it was quite puzzling to Eight.

"No fair..." he finally just whined.

Reynolds sensed the signs of a temper tantrum and got a spark for an idea, "Eight, go get the other Garde. I've got a better idea than those silly calisthenics today."

"Yay!" Eight, having always hated the routine of calisthenics, ran to fetch the others.

In no time, all of the Garde and Cepans were gathered in the main area of the ship. Reynolds stood in the middle of it all, handing out two different colors to each side in various materials. Soon, there were two teams with red and the blue representing the difference with the Garde and Cepans mixed up.

"Now," he announced proudly, "this will be a challenge of smarts, speed, bravery, and strength. To win you have to be giving your all and work as a team."

"This is stupid..." One grumbled bitterly, earning her a stern look from Hessu and getting her hand grabbed by Eight, who was a fellow 'blue'.

"Come on, the team needs you!" he insisted, eager for the new game.

Reynolds remained unfazed by One's reluctance to be a team player and held up two plastic blocks about the size of his hands, "The object is to get the blocks from the other side and back to yours without getting caught. I call this game Capture the Block, and now it's time to chose the captain."

"I think Reynolds should be ours!" Eight volunteered his beloved Cepan.

"Buddy, I'm the ref," the Cepan chuckled gently, "chose either Brandon, Sandor, Kater, or Adel."

Eight pouted a bit before looking at the other Cepans as well as his Garde teammates- One, Four, and Six. One was still pouty and Six had her gaze locked on Nine, who was smirking, so he turned to Four and shook his arm.

"Should we chose Brandon or Sandor?" he whispered not-so-quietly.

Four seemed surprised at his indecision, "Brandon, 'course. He super duper smart!"

Brandon, despite the slight childish-ness of the action, smirked a bit to Sandor before Eight protested, "Yeah, but Sandor's super duper cool!" Now it was Sandor's turn to smirk a bit at the other, more experienced Cepan.

"Let's just be Kater and move on..." Six mumbled, and her Cepan stepped forward with a small smirk to both of them.

"Step aside, boys," she instructed with a playful wink at them, "I'll show you how it's done."

In no time the two sides were at each other. Not very surprisingly, Six, Nine, and Five all ended up in quite the brawl in no time, each trying to escape the wrestling mass they were in to get to the other sides. Their Cepans, of course, were attemping to seperate them a little and keep the game fair as the others ran around like mad. Four and Two both kept tripping over their own fast feet, and One had given up on both sides and had stalked off to the girls' room. Three managed to almost get the block to other side twice, but he had to be stopped his Cepan reminding him it was the wrong side to go to. Seven was too shy to participate, so Adel was now coaxing her to try while EIght whined at Reynolds for everybody not playing right.

"Maybe a different game...?" Reynolds suggested helplessly, annoyed by the outcome himself.

Eight sighed, "We gotta finish this one first."

With that, he took off to the other side in a hurry. Nine noticed suddenly from his struggles and took after the older boy, letting out a battle cry as he grabbed up the block. Eight squeaked in alarm with a wide, satisfied grin on his face, taking off for his side, only to be tackled by the equally spirited child. The two boys rolled around, both grabbing at each others blue rag/red banana to get each other out. Nine landed an elbow in Eight's sides, eliciting a cry out and a kick the hip.

Suddenly, both's where swiped from above, making both squeal. Brandon towered over both, saying solemnly, "That's enough of that, young men."

"But we're playing a game!" Eight whined and clutched the block to his chest.

Four's Cepan merely picked both of them up, standing them on their feet steadily and taking the block with some level of prying, "And now the game's over."

"But nobody won!" Eight kept whining as Nine pouted, "IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Young man..." Brandon's voice held a evident octave of warning, but the seven-year-old male was on a roll.

"You're so boring and unfair! Everytime we have fun, you're all like 'That's enough' or 'You have to stop because of blah, blah, blah'. I dunno know why Four loves you; you're not any fun and make everybody else all said! You're not the boss of me, or Nine, or nobody! You shouldn't even be the boss of Four! I'm tired of you...all of us are! You're the worst and I hate you!"

After finishing the little lecture with a hurt-filled glare, Eight ran to the boys' room in tears.

* * *

"E-Eight?"

"What do you want, Four?" Eight grumbled bitterly at the other boy's soft speaking. He wasn't in the mood to be in trouble all over again, not at all.

"Um...I wanted to give you a gift..." Four was nervous and it was evident by how he squeaked out his answer. Only because of that did Eight lift his red, tear-stained face from his pillow and look at the younger boy.

He was clutching something that looked Loric in his tiny hands. It was obviously a necklace, and Eight was not amused as he yelled, "I don't want no dummy necklace! Go away!"

Before he could completely ignore the younger's soft sniffles and apparent tears, he heard him whisper, "It...it a pendent.."

Eight thought on that one. His grandmother always told him a Loric pendant was always something to be proud of- it was for honor and pride. He looked up and was kind of surprised to see Brandon scooping up his Garde gently, taking the pendant and holding it out to the curly-haired Garde.

"I thought I'd give you yours early," he explained gently but solemnly, "keep up with this always, even on Earth. It's for your planet."

With his little hands shaking, the boy accepted the gift and slipped it around his neck. Even if he might have liked for Reynolds to bestow such a thing to him, he w_as _honored someone as smart as Brandon would do it, too. Tears sprang back into his eyes as he threw his arms around the Cepan's neck, allowing himself to be lifted out of the bed and cuddled a bit with Four.

"I'm...I'm glad I know you," Eight whispered.

_Even if it's only for now. _


	10. Hold Up

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 10

"Young man, I said calm down, and I'm not telling you again!"

"You're not the boss of me!"

Nine continued glaring at the older man even as he was 'rescued' by his Cepan. He didn't like being told what to do, and for a Cepan who wasn't his own to try and calm him down was offensive in his young mind. Now he was pouting as the sixteen-year-old carried him off to a corner, setting him down with his body blocking an easy escape.

"What did you do all that for?" Sandor frowned somewhat sternly to the little boy.

He jutted out his lower lip further, "He was tryin' to tell me what to do!"

The young Cepan merely sighed and replied, "Brandon can tell you what to do too, Nine. He tells _me_what to do...he tells all of us what to do. He's like our leader."

"No! He's not the boss of me and neither are you!" Nine insisted, glaring a bit and ducking through the gap between his Cepan and the wall. Before his protector could react, he took off through the ship and into the boys' room, diving under the sheets of his top bunk.

Groaning to himself, the sixteen year old headed after his spirited charge. When he finally found a wadded up tangle of covers in his bunk, he slowly placed his hand where he back should be and was rewarded with a tiny squeak. Though with a considerable level of reluctance, the older male hefted himself into the bunk, resting beside his 'hidden' Garde and considering what to say.

"What you did wasn't very nice," he began slowly, causing the pile to tense up, "but he shouldn't have been raising his voice."

The pile slowly began to untense as the four-year-old whispered, "He wasn't nice, either."

"I think you both should apologize to each other," Sandor suggested somewhat quietly, lifting up the tangle of warmth and scooping the boy out from the center of it.

Nine's pout deepened, "But I didn' do nothin' wrong!"

"You weren't nice," Sandor reminded as patiently as he could, "I bet that if you apologize to him, he'll apologize to you as well."

The younger snorted and retorted, "He's never sorry for anything he does. He think's he's always right!"

The sixteen year old chuckled airily. The boy had a point, no matter how much anybody tried to deny it. Brandon really w_as_a bit of a hothead, but the youngest Cepan had also seen what happened between he and Eight about a week prior. If he was willing to apologize and make up with one Garde, he should be able too for his.

"Who knows? Maybe he'll change," he offered.

The blacked-haired child merely huffed as he climbed down the latter. As the two re-entered the main part of the ship, they found Brandon on the ground with his Garde and Seven, showing them both some kind of paper with several Loric symbols on them. Sticking his little chin up in the air, the young boy marched his way over and shook the older man's shoulder insistently. Looking a bit annoyed at being interrupted, Four's Cepan looked at the young thing now standing in front of his face boldly.

"I...I'm _sorry_for bein' not nice." His tone was much less confident than his body, but he was obviously still trying to put up a front.

The older couldn't help but smile a little bit at the attempted apology from the very spirited little boy, "I appreciate that, Nine. Thank you."

As he turned back to showing the two young Garde more symbols, he didn't really notice the boy's reappearing pout. Sandor stepped forward, about to tell Brandon to apologize as well, but his Garde beat him to it by shaking the other's shoulder again.

"You gotta say sorry too!" the four-year-old frowned, "'cause you weren't nice, neither!"

Brandon considered it briefly, then, upon deciding it was in everybody's best interest and sanity, replied, "I see. Well, I'm sorry as well for not being nice. Do we have a truce?"

He offered his hand, inspiring the child to grab it with both hands to hold it almost fully and give it a firm shake. He had no idea what that word meant, but since the 'boss' used it, he decided it was a good word to remember. Grinning proudly, he turned his back and started back toward his Cepan, victorious.

"Why don't you join us in learning Loric symbols?" Brandon offered, taking his small arm in his hand.

Pulling free slightly sharply, Nine replied, "You're not the boss of me."

* * *

There weren't balloons, streamers, and instead of cake there was milk, cream, and chocolate shreds mixed in for a large bowl of sweet pudding, but it was satisfying enough to the young boy.

All of the Garde were bouncing around the room, the sugar in their systems sparking all of their inner wildness. This made little Number Nine quite happy, considering that made him able to tackle and wrestle with them pretty much all he wanted without them getting tired or angry. It satisfied him to see that even One was a bit peppier after she ate some of pudding, which gave him a good excuse to tackle her around the waist. This resulted in a squeal from her, of course, but she began to try pinning him down in a playful manor.

Needless to see, the boy was absolutely delighted on his fifth birthday.

"Nine!" Hessu scolded the two children none the less, prying them apart and practically shoving the boy in his Cepan's arms, "control him!"

"Well, I think this is could time for a certain birthday tradition..." Sandor smirked down to his charge, earning a wide eyed curious gaze from the young, spirited male.

The other Cepans could merely smirk as the sixteen year old laid the boy over his knees, surprising both said boy and the other little Garde. All eyes were on the two as Nine began kicking up in protest, a bit panicked at the position he'd learned a couple of times from his grandfather. Doing the best he could to twist around, he squeaked, "No no!"

Chuckling gently, Sandor brought his head down on the youth's backside in a light love tap.

_Pop! _

"Eep!" Nine squeaked.

"One!" all of the Cepans chanted with smiles on their faces.

_Pop! _

"Two!"

_Pop! _

"Three!"

Nine was kicking up again, blushing at everyone counting and smiling at them. He threw one of his tiny hands back, attempting to shield his behind from the smacks that honestly didn't hurt. Sandor noticed instantly and chuckled again, catching it and pinning it to his lower back gently.

_Pop! _

"Four!"

_Pop! _

"Five!"

"And one to grow on!" Sandor taunted playfully, popping him firmly once before allowing to jump up and rub his rear a bit, "aw, come on, buddy. I know that didn't hurt."

"No more spankin'!" Nine insisted with a large pout on his face, rubbing anyway.

"That's called a birthday spanking," the Cepan merely chuckled and lifted the child up, blowing air under his shirt and eliciting several giggles in response, "get used to it for a present from me each year, kid."

Nine considered his apparent fate, then declared, "I'm so goin' get you on your birthday!"

* * *

"Come on, boys," Brandon's face was full of tread as he spoke to the four boys on the ship, all of whom were all playing somewhat peacefully after a good dinner, "it's time to give you all a bath."

Being in outer space meant limited options as far as bathing went, but they'd gathered enough water vapor and such for all of their monthly baths. Of course they had to share because of limits, and last time Hunmek had taken on the task of getting three energetic children bathed and in bed. Now it was Brandon's turn, and this was not ideal for him. It obviously wasn't ideal for the boys, either, because because boys, they weren't excited about getting clean or going to bed, especially not in that order.

"No bath time..." Four pouted up at Brandon, "pwease?"

Three was very pouty himself, and Eight's grin faded a bit. Nine was, out of all of them, the most spirited about refusing it. He jumped to his feet instantly, toys forgotten as he tore down the hall.

_No way!_ the five year old thought as he scrambled up the latter, _no bath time for me! _

Much to his disappointment, Brandon came after him and even went up the latter some to grab his ankle. He squealed instantly, trying frantically to kick while squirming all around. With a sigh from the other, he found himself being carried by the ankle into the bathroom; he squealed loudly and pounded helplessly at his legs. Much to the child's un- amusement, his protests were ignored and he was suddenly being stood on the lid of the toilet to be undressed. This, of course, inspired him to slap and squirm all that harder from the older man.

"No bath time!" he shrieked as loudly as he could.

"Yes bath time," Brandon sighed, tired of this already as he peeled off the last of the youth's clothing. He could tell already that Nine was going to be his biggest problem, and Nine seemed to know that too and seemed to want to live up to this.

A few minutes later, Brandon managed to get the others undressed in the bathroom and was now trying to get them all in the tub. Whenever he'd put one back in, another, (normally Nine.) would hop right back out and try to dodge him in the tiny space. A few of the other Cepans were finding humor in this, snickering outside of the programmable door to where their fellow adult could hear. Groaning loudly, he grabbed up the boy with long black hair up once again and finally held him upside by his skinny little ankles.

"Calm down!" he ordered to all of them strictly, "or I'll wear you all out and make you _wish _you'd sat down in the first place!"

This made Three and Four's eyes widen largely and Eight to shrink back considerably. Sighing deeply, the twenty seven year old set the wildest of the four back inside the water and watched as the oldest of said four slunk back inside. The rest of the bath time went rather smoothly except for the occasional being splashed by any of them in protest to being scrubbed...at least until he brought out the shampoo.

"No! You get it in my eyes!" Four whined, covering his wide blue eyes fearfully.

Three squeaked nervously and brought his knees to his tiny chest, covering his entire head. Eight sagged against the back the tub, shutting his eyes and emitting a obviously sleepy groan. Nine turned his back on Brandon and crossed his arms stubbornly, bitterly. Brandon sighed at their reluctance and obvious fear of him after his threat to him; it was bringing to an absolute standstill with all four.

"Look...I'm not going to spank you boys," he assured carefully, "and I'm not going to get shampoo in your eyes. I'll be careful, but you have to let me clean your hair, okay?"

"I no believe you!" Nine snapped instantly, ducking his face like Three was just lifting himself from doing.

Smiling grateful to the three-year-old and his own Garde, Brandon soaked up their hair slowly and poured the water down their tilted back heads. It worked at keeping the subs out of their eyes, which seemed to convince Eight to hold his head back as well. Soon, it was merely Nine preventing their bath being over, which Brandon knew would happen in the end as it was. Slowly, he guided the child to sit up, squirting the liquid soap in her long black hair and starting to try and scrub it.

The squeal he admitted could have shattered glass.

"Nooo!" he howled, pummeling his fist and splashing up half of the water.

"STOP IT!" Brandon suddenly bellowed.

This surprised Nine so much his struggles turned to a frozen body and a shocked face full of hurt. As he finished up washing out the subs, he found Three to be sobbing, Four to be clinging to Eight fearfully with tears in his betrayed eyes, and even Nine's lower lip to be quivering horribly. With a apologetic sigh, the Cepan dried them all up and cooed to Three until his eyes were dry again. Scooping up the youngest boy and his own charge, he carried them into their room and laid them in their beds first. Eight was already there in his PJs, hiding under the bed, but Nine was holding it up again.

This time, Sandor was 'helping'.

"Calm down, buddy..." the sixteen year old was urging as he stroked back his wet hair, "it's okay."

"Nine," Brandon frowned at the sad sight before him "look...I didn't mean to...to not be nice again."

"You did too!" Nine buried face in his Cepan's chest and ignored the wounded look from the other man. Suddenly, he was lifted from Sandor's lap and into strong arms, making him squeak and a few tears to fall down.

Brandon merely carried the boy to his bunk, laying him down and speaking to all of them as he spoke to the five-year-old, "I messed up and I shouldn't have yelled. I really am sorry for that, and I hope you accept my apology."

"Would should I?" Nine sniffled, "you made my eyes get all wet!"

"Because...because I'll make you more of that pudding you had at your party," he decided, bringing all of the boys' spirits to hopeful.

"Really?" the spirited child asked.

"Really."

That turned out to be way to get all of them- especially Nine- to forgiving his misdeed. And both Brandon and Nine knew that was going to end up a big mess, so of course Nine was going to see to it personally.


	11. Innocence

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 11

_It's not fair, but it is fair. _

Crayton sat huddled with the small baby in his lap and arms, desperately shivering to find any work. The Pilot was frantically starting all of the things necessary for the near-year long travel ahead of them. He felt a mixture of things- shock, emotionally hurting, heartbroken, confused. And scared.

Oh, he was so scared.

He now glanced up at the three others in the canteen. In addition to about fifteen Chimera on the ship, three Cepans from the Mentor Cepans who'd surrvived the LDA's explosion were managed onboard. There were two men and a woman, all of which looked as traumatized as he felt. Then he looked at the tense Chimera, and finally the sleeping baby in his arms. She was barely a day old, and already she was going to be on a ship for the first year of her life. Being male, Crayton had no way to feed her and almost no knowledge of how to take care of her.

He dearly hoped that the woman on board would.

But for that night, he was exhausted and hardly had it in him to cry. He merely tucked the baby between two of the Chimera, watching as they shifted into two large, hairy wolves with wings that curled around her in a semi-cradle. She slept on, giving the man permission to the smile thankfully to the Chimera before laying beside one. As the heat slowly came to life and oxygen filled in the air, he couldn't help but remember what had just happened:

* * *

_It was the Quartermoon Festival, a time for great joy and celebration. Crayton was shaking in his skin, anxious to give the ring to his girlfriend of two years. Despite him being a Cepan, she'd fallen in love with him from the second she stepped into the LDA for her Garde training. Granted, he had his doubts considering she was eighteen and most of the Garde came when they were eleven, but she was late to develop Legacies and was a shy, adorable short thing. He took it upon his seventeen year old self to show her around, and in no time they were dating._

_Tonight was the night he was finally going to propose to her. _

_As they laughed and talked with their friends, he fingered the ring inside of his pocket. It had taken most of his savings, but that **was **the thing he'd been saving for. He was just about to give it to her when something rocked the ground, causing the music to stop briefly and everybody to look around in concern. Minutes later, they heard the second explosion, and everybody panicked. He was separated from his almost-fiancee, and while he was scrambling around and trying to find her, he was flagged down by Loradias. _

_"Here," he handed him a small pink bundle and pointed to a ship looking like it was prepping for takeoff, "take her. Raise her to bring this planet back to life, for I cannot take care of her."_

_Shocked, Crayton asked frantically, "What's happening?" _

_"Lorien is falling to the Mogodorians," Loradias answered gravely, "she is my daughter. There are nine other young Garde destined to avenge Lorien and make it rise again in their young adulthood; she shall be the tenth. Now go!"_

_He wanted desperately to ask more questions, but he knew there was no time. So, with a heavy heart and mind, he took off for the ship with the crying little girl in his arms._

* * *

"What's your name?" one of the Cepans inquired, raising his eyebrow. He looked more youthful by a few years compared to the other two on the ship with long ginger hair and deep, curious brown eyes.

"Crayton," the nineteen year old muttered, studying his hands sullenly, "you?"

"Name's Levii," he replied easily, "and I just learned her name is Bellintine and his name is Aquarius."

He didn't even look up as he nodded quietly. He was hurting far too much to acknowledge any other than the only thing he was left with for good, this little baby sleeping between the two Chimera beside him. He peeked over their thick fur to her, watching her peacefully sleep with total innocence to her lack of any knowledge.

_You are innocent and peaceful..._he thought sadly, _please stay like that. _

* * *

With Bellintine have been a young mother on Lorien days before the invasion, she was able to nurture the little girl to health the first six months. They decided to call her Ella, an ancient name associated on Lorien with the Quartermoon and purity.

It was apparent to all of them that Ella was a smart little thing, as well. She began crawling around and grew quickly, much more than any Earth child. She was soon knawing on everything and getting into anything and everything, keeping her 'new' father busy. Now she was happily sitting his lap, knawing on a dried piece of karak as the adults talked.

"She's going to be a handful," Levii chuckled.

Ella stuck out her lower lip. Somehow, her young mind processed that they were talking about her, and she didn't like that at all. She reached up a chubby little arm toward Levii, flexing her small fingers as if to grab him. Crayton chuckled and held her close, making her giggle some and take his own hand, touching and playing with his fingers a bit.

"C...Cw...Cwa...Cwa!" she crowed happily, "Cwa Cwa!"

"I think she's trying to say your name, Crayton," Bellintine smiled, having fallen in love with the little girl after nursing her.

Even solemn Aquarius smiled a bit as the six-month old cooed, "Cwa Cwa!"

Crayton smiled and lifted her up a bit, letting her look down into his eyes briefly before balancing her on his knees in a standing position. "How about...Papa? Can you say 'Papa', Ella?"

"Go on, Ella," Bellintine encouraged, catching the girl's attention with her name as expected.

"Can you say 'Papa'?" even Aquarius and Levii joined in, "Ella, can you say 'Papa'?"

Ella scrunched her face in concentration. She understood they were all telling her to do something because they all said her name,...'Papa', they said. But she also knew they were saying her name a lot after she said 'Cwa Cwa'. She considered all of this briefly before her eyes lite up.

"Ewwa!" she crowed, pride on her face.

Everyone laughed, so she decided that that was what they wanted.

* * *

The now one-year-old didn't understand what was going on, but she didn't like it.

She cried quietly as everyone hugged each other and talked to each other. Her guardian came to her after what seemed like forever, picking her up out of her Chimera's curled up form around her. She touched his cheek and felt something wet, making her cry harder. He reached down and kissed her own soaked cheeks, quieting her to snuggle up to his chest. She still didn't get what was going on, but since he was there holding her, she felt safer.

"Papa..." she whispered her only word other than her own.

"It's okay, Ella," he told her gently, "things are going to be alright. I promise."

Ella smiled some and closed her eyes as her papa carried her into the night. She thought about the others on the ship, and it made her sad and cry some more, but she was happy that he was still there.

And that was all she really needed that night.

* * *

_**Author Note:**_This story will have one more chapter, then this part of the story shall be over! Your support has been crazy awesome, but guess what?

THERE WILL BE A PREQUEL AND A SEQUEL OF SORTS. 

The prequel will focus on everyone's lives, and the sequel will be focusing on the Cepans. Would you guys like it if I added onto this story with different parts, or if i did both on seperate threads? Let me know if you're reviews please! :3


	12. The End of Forever, But Only for Now

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 12

_**Author Note:**_So I had one person asking me to do the sequel and prequel on the same forum and one telling me to do it on separate. After _carefully _analyzing this careful material carefully, I reach a compromise!

~THE COMPROMISE~

I will be doing the Cepan-focused thing on this forum for the first few days on Earth, and then the prequel on a seperate form. Which one do you guys want me to start on first? ;).

While you figure it out, here is the last official chapter of the Garde-centered fic! :D

* * *

From the second she woke up, One knew things were going to be different on this day.

She couldn't exactly say _why_, but that the frustrating part for her. She liked to know what was happening to her when it was happening, so she decided to question her Cepan when she saw her putting the few things in her room into a bag.

"What're you doing? Are we going somewhere? Does this mean we're finally getting off this ship?" She was persistant with each new question, which was quickly becoming annoying to her caretaker.

"You'll see, okay?!" Hessu finally snapped, making the nine year old slink back and glare.

"How rude!" she snapped herself, turning her small back bitterly and stomping back into the main area of the ship.

The others looked up instantly, of course, seeing one of their was angry. She, as usual, merely blew them off and sulked in the corner. All of the Cepans were acting strangely today, and she hated it. The worst part was that none of them would tell them what was happening, and while the younger Garde merely shrugged it off and resumed playing with each other, it was making Number One angrier by the minute.

It was only a matter of time before her little temper got the better of her.

* * *

"WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

Two jumped nearly out of her skin at her fellow Garde's scream. She'd been contently playing with Three and Four, but when she screamed, tears formed in all of their eyes. Hessu was instantly on her case, scolding sternly and toting her to her room for some alone time, but it didn't seem very just in the six year old's eyes. After all, she'd just been asking a question. So the little redhead took off after them, touching the older woman's arm with her tiny fingertips and flinching when she turned sharply.

"Um...can...can One not get alone time?" she inquired nervously, "she...she just asked a question."

"She's been doing it non-stop all day," Hessu narrowed her eyes a bit at being questioned by a little girl.

"She'll stop if I play with her!" she tried desperately as they started marching off again.

Hessu seemed to be considering it, which filled the redhead with hope. After all, the less trouble her 'friend' was in the better for all parties involved. Finally the nine year old was pushed toward her by a reluctant Cepan.

"Both of you behave," she warned before storming off herself.

"Why'd you do that?" One grumbled to her bitterly, crossing her arm.

Little Two could harldy believe it. "I just got you outta trouble! Why do you gotta be all mean for?!"

"Because I don't have friends and nobody does that for me," the blonde snorted and turned her back, "it's been happening forever and nobody cared."

The younger placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "I care."

* * *

Three wasn't very bothered with all the moving the Cepans were doing or how much everyone got to eat. He was more worried about how on _Lorien _One and two became best friends when they fought all the time the rest of the trip. He just watched, struggling to understand as he watched them play dolls. In hopes of making sense of it, he turned to Five.

"Why are they friends?" he asked while popping his thumb in his mouth.

She frowned, causing him to pout a bit and toddle over to his Cepan. He was just beginning to notice how Hunmek couldn't sit still and was with Reynolds a _lot _that day, like he was scared of leaving him alone. It confused and worried the three year old greatly.

"Hunmek, why One and Two friends?" he inquired, "and why you all sad?"

The young man just chuckled and held the little boy close. "I'm not sure, Three."

That's when the ship started shaking terribly. This, of course, scared one of the youngest members of the Garde terribly, and in no time he was crying into the shirt of his protector. The shaking grew more violently until everyone was forced to sit, and it had almost all of the children crying in fear before it finally turned to mild tremors, then a final jolt. Tentively, Three peeked up and looked at his crying friends.

"Wh...what's goin' on?"

* * *

Brandon looked really angry, which made Four feel a mixture of feelings. The top ones were fear, sadness, and worry, just above anger that was only from his Cepan's. The small blonde clung to the front of his Cepan's shirt as the others were carried out by their own until everyone was standing in a big circle in a strange place. It didn't look anything like Earth- it was cold, dark, and really empty. Other than the ship, they were the only ones there.

"He said he'd be here," Brandon grumbled.

"Who?" Four inquired softly, "Brandon, where are we?"

"Our new homes," the man replied solemnly, gently setting his Garde down on the ground, "go say goodbye to everyone, Four. You won't be seeing them for a while."

"Why? Did I do somethin' bad?" The blonde frowned and looked down.

"Not at all. It's...things are going to be weird for a while," Brandon sighed and gently pushed the boy forward, "just go give everyone a hug. We'll see them all again eventually."

"Promise?" he asked hopefully.

He didn't quite pick up on the hard swallow Brandon had to do before saying softly, "Promise."

* * *

Five didn't necessarily _mind _emotion; she had plenty of personality too. But she wasn't very good at handling it being five, especially when it was Jemstone running over to hold her daughter close.

The small blonde girl merely followed the others' leads in hugging all of the children, even grumpy One. She avoided Nine, of course, but that was natural because of their rivalaries. When she'd given everyone but he and Sandor a big hug and told them goodbye when they said to her, she toddled her way over to her Cepan and said Cepan's daughter.

"What now?" she asked, bored with the repetitive turn of events.

"We leave," Jemstone replied softly, reaching to scoop up both little girls.

Five took a step back before that could happen to ask, "Wait. Leave to where? I wanna keep playing with Six and Three!"

"You can't," Jem merely frowned and reached for her charge again.

The little girl took another step back, but the consequence what less desirable than the original. She backed right into Nine, who threw his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder. The harder she squired, the tighter his hug became until breathing was hard. This, of course, made her angry enough to tackling him into the damp Earth grass. Before it could progress any further, though, Jem grabbed the girl's hand and started pulling her in the other direction.

"Can I please go back and tell him to never touch me ever again?" Five asked sweetly.

"No, dear. You can't go back to him ever."

"...Okay!"

* * *

"I don't wanna go, Four," Six whispered in her friend's ear.

"Why not?" The little blonde tilted his head to the side curiously.

"'Cause I got in trouble earlier and Kentra might yell at me or somethin' when we're not 'in public'," the little girl's frown only deepened, "'sides, she said if I go then it'll be a super long time before I see you again. I don't wanna wait a super long time to see you again or Eight or Five or nobody!"

She was on the verge of tears, and it made her a little happier to see that her little friend could tell. He reached up and started to wipe away her tears, making her smile slightly and kiss his nose. Both of them were giggling as he did the same to her, both of them soon engrossed in doing that back and forth until their Cepans picked them up.

"Bye bye..." Four whispered over the man's shoulder as he was carried about from her.

Her heart broke a little as she whispered in return, "Bye bye."

* * *

"So am I never goin' see you again?" Seven was clinging to her best friend for all of her worth.

"It won't be forever," Eight whispered comfortingly, "I mean...I won't let us be apart for a long time. I'll find you again one day, I promise."

"But...why? I'm all _sensitive _and stuff..." the female seven year old ducked her head down and buried her face in his shoulder.

His tiny rubbed comfortingly at her. "You're not bad at all. You're my bestest friend and I don't wanna go, but we gotta so we can go back to Lorien one day. Maybe you'll find a better best friend here on Earth and you can be happy all the time again."

"Nu uh," she shook her head, "you're my best friend. Always."

"So you won't forget me?" the curly haired Garde broke into a wide grin.

"Never," she said seriously, "I promise."

Both of them shared another long, tight hug before they were called to their seperate Cepans. Seven wasn't sad anymore, though. After all, Eight promised to her that they'd meet again, and that was enough for her.

* * *

Eight frowned when he saw that Six had already gone away with her Cepan. After all, they were always getting in trouble together on the ship, and he never got to say goodbye to her. Now he trudged to Reynolds with a heavy heart, reluctantly lifting his arms to be carried off himself. His Cepan noticed right away his Garde's sadness and, though he had a pretty good idea why he was upset, decided to confront it.

"What's wrong, little buddy?" he asked gently.

"I never got to say goodbye to Six..." the little boy replied sadly.

Gently, he guided a hand over his back and soothed, "Don't you worry. You'll see her again one day, and when you do, you'll have even more fun than you did before."

"Wow..." Being the fun lover he was, Eight could only grin and wrap his arms around the man's neck. "Okay!"

* * *

"This so isn't fair..." Nine whined as he was carried, "Five didn't even hug me back and she my only kind of friend!"

Sandor chuckled briefly, "I know how that feels, buddy. I didn't have a lot of friends, either."

"You're my only friend..." the little five-year-old menance frowned and held onto his Cepan's neck all that tighter, "are you goin' go away for a long time, too?"

"Not a chance, kid. You're not going to get rid of me that easily," the now seventeen year old chuckled briefly and ruffled up his charge's long hair, "we're all we got now, got it? And I'm going to take good care of you."

Smiling, he replied cheerfully, "Kow kow!"

And with that, the two friends and bonded Loric headed off to the first of many apartments.

* * *

Crayton gently laid the one year old girl in the large bed of the motel, running his fingers through his hair. In all truth, Bellintine had been the one to take of her the most on the ship, especially in the beginning. In fact, she took care of both little girls the majority of the time, and now that she was gone he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Of course he loved and she adored him, but it still wasn't going to be easy.

The first challenge? Her pajama bottoms were soaked along with the top blanket of the bed already.

As he gently began cleaning her up, he could only think about the future. It was just him and this little Garde now, and he had to keep her alive, trained, and healthy. Most of all, he had to try and keep her happy. It terrified him to be that responsible when he'd never been before for any child, but he thought he was doing a decent job thus far.

"Papa..." she whispered.

"Yes, baby girl?" he asked gently.

"...Wov oo..."

His heart cracked. Suddenly, the loss of Lorien didn't matter, not for that moment. All that mattered was _his _little girl laying in front of him, her diaper changed and a sleepy little smile on her face.

Scooping her up, he whispered, "I love you more than anything, Ella. I'm going to help you win."


	13. Epilogue

Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 13

_**Author Note:**_I know I said I was putting the Cepan chapters on this thread, but...I started writing and confirmed I was going to end up merging those two ideas, anyway. So, I'll be putting up the sequel/pre-quel of sorts up very briefly. This title will be:

**_Protectors. _**

(Yes, Callie, very original.) Title is subject to change, so any ideas? :P

So, to make this chapter legal, enjoy another little bit of this story! :D

* * *

The most haunting part wasn't the fact they were in an all new place. It wasn't that all they had was their Cepans, or that they now missed each other terribly.

It was the memories.

Being at the young age all of them were, they didn't remember _too _much of Lorien. Of course they could remember those they left behind, but as the years came, they didn't know that would fade just like the memories of each other. The pain of that would move on, but they didn't know it yet. They were just children, after all, and little did they know they were destined to fight for a planet. All they truly knew now was that everything was confusing and different, and what they remembered the most.

One remembered her wealth and happiness.

Two remembered being dragged away from her hysterical keepers.

Three remembered having fun with the other children.

Four remembered Six.

Five remembered watching her planet fade in the distance.

Six remembered Four.

Seven remembered Eight, and the promise he'd made.

Eight remembered Seven, and watching his brothers turn to ash.

Nine remembered playing with his grandfather and Chimera and harassing the others.

Ten remembered only the kind face of Bellintine and her beloved Papa.

Their memories were certain, and even in their young age they could only hope they'd forget. And just like their Cepans, they spent the rest of their young lives trying too.


End file.
